Source: Eurosport
Hodgson relieved as Fulham sneak through
Fulham manager Roy Hodgson admitted his side had been "stretched to the limit" after the Cottagers reached the group stages of the Europa League despite a 1-0 defeat to Amkar Perm in Russia.
Martin Kushev's late header secured victory for the home side on the night but Fulham prevailed 3-2 on aggregate despite being without six first-choice players for the long trip to Russia.
"I thought it was a very good game and I'm very happy that we went through," said Hodgson. "Amkar played particularly well today and made life difficult for us throughout the 90 minutes."
He added: "And of course with the very late goal it made the last five minutes of the game extra exciting.
"In the second half, or the last part of the match at Craven
Cottage and the 90 minutes today, they [Amkar] have shown that they are a very good quality team and they have stretched us to the limit in order to get our qualification.
"The fact that Amkar came forward and played so well was all credit to them.
"I don't think we attacked well, I don't think we passed the ball well, I don't think we used the ball very well when we got it, so we were guilty of giving the ball away back to the opposition far too often."
Hodgson was however reluctant to criticise his players for the lacklustre performance.
Many were making their first starts of the season and on a difficult pitch.
Hodgson said: "We were playing without six of our regular players and we were also playing on an artificial surface, so I have to be kind to my players because it is something they are not used to and we had several players playing their first match in the first team."
